HOW DO WE GET EDSA OUT OF ITS PRESENT DIFFICULTIES?
We quote below the last line of the statement from the Ministry of Finance, announcing that the government of Sierra Leone had met a key demand of Karpower for the resumption of electricity supply to Freetown. That demand was that the government must pay 17 million US dollars in 48 hours or Freetown would remain in darkness.
The public is further informed that the Ministry of Finance will deepen engagement with the Ministry of Energy and EDSA to roll out reforms that will ensure the financial viability of the energy sector.
This is a very interesting part of that press statement. Like all other people living in Freetown, we applauded the fact that Karpower was finally going to resume work but we paid some attention to the line quoted above. As ordinary Sierra Leoneans in this LAND THAT WE LOVE we want to ask a few questions and make some comments with the sole aim of getting clarity about the main issue of how we came to the point of Karpower throwing our city into darkness.
1. Was Minister Alhaji Kanja Sesay the stumbling block to the Finance Ministry’s efforts to “Deepen engagement” with the Energy Ministry?
2. In fact what does “Deepen engagement” really mean in this context?
3. When did the Finance Ministry realize that “financial viability” was not assured in the energy sector?
4. Could it be that the Finance Ministry actually triggered this Karpower closure to make a point about the problem with the “financial viability” of the energy sector?
5. Does the Finance Ministry have evidence to prove that they faced resistance from the Energy Ministry when they attempted to “roll out reforms” in the past?
6. We know that some meetings are taking place now and some documents have been delivered to the office of the man now providing “ministerial supervision” for the Energy Ministry but what “reforms” is the Finance Ministry talking about?
We absolutely deserve to know the details. We just don’t want to be told about the outcome of that activity. In mathematics exams one is required to SHOW ALL WORKING.
Anyway, while we wait for the Finance Ministry to put some flesh on the bones of that line in their press statement, let’s make the following points from our side of things:
1. Even with Karpower at full capacity; we were still experiencing some serious load shedding on a daily basis. Yes, supply has improved on the pre-shutdown levels but many areas are still in darkness for much of the day.
2. Reforms or no reforms, there are many people inside EDSA that are unpatriotic. They think only about their pockets and would do anything to keep dirty money flowing in. That’s the reality and the new man in charge will soon realize that up close, not as part of some discussion in a cabinet meeting or a social media gossip. The unpatriotic elements that made the place so difficult for Moba Kanja are still there.
3. Some of us who complain the LOUDEST on social media are the very ones stealing electricity with the aid of criminal elements inside EDSA. If the government fails to put them out of action now, we should just give up and keep quiet.
4. If we have to declare a state of emergency to be able to deal with the stealing and vandalisation of EDSA facilities, let’s do it. Things are getting out of hand and we believe that in some parts of the country the criminals are politically motivated. How else do we explain the fact that a local councilor was caught stealing solar panels in his ward?
5. Alhaji Kanja Sesay is back home in Bo, possibly using a generator to power his house because there is very little electricity supply, we now have to prove that it was his incompetence that plunged Freetown into darkness. So far, we have not seen anything to convince us that he wasn’t swimming against a new tide and was in fact in danger of being swept away to the political unknown.
HORNBILL’S PROBLEM IS NOT HORNBILL’S PROBLEM: EDSA AND EGTC GONE
Let’s think back to those primary school days when we read the story of the noisy hornbill and how the other inhabitants of the forest ignored the hornbill saying they could care less about his pain. In the end when a hunter was attracted to that area what happened next should teach us a lesson to pay attention to the concerns of others around us.
Last week State House announced that the governing boards of EGTC and EDSA were dissolved with immediate effect. The two bodies remained quiet when Moba Kanja resigned his job as Energy Minister as Freetown was thrown into darkness. We still don’t have official reasons why he resigned. Some of his friends say he lost the support of the Finance Ministry, forcing his main creditor, Karpower to halt electricity supply. With time the details would emerge.
The boards of EGTC and EDSA were probably hoping to ride out the storm but they have been thrown out of office by Principal. To be honest, it was only a matter of time before this action was taken. It’s only logical that we ask this question: who’s next? Inevitably, the management of these two bodies are now under consideration. It wouldn’t be a false move for some guys to start clearing their table.
WHY A FORMAL CEREMONY TO HAND OVER THE YOUYI LIFT FOR REPAIRS?
Actually it didn’t come to us as a surprise that a government minister called in the media to witness him hand over the lifts at the main government ministerial complex to contractors for repairs. We’re not surprised because of the guy now in charge of government infrastructure. His love for media from his days in King Messi’s government to his first and second lives under Paopa is well established. The guy enjoys drama.
We are talking about a guy who will stop on the country’s main highway out of the capital, in the middle of nowhere, take a picture of himself posing Kung-Fu style and post on social media, a guy who wakes up in the morning, finds his way into a community and announce a change in the name of that place without going through the normal procedure.
Anyway, we hope the work on the Youyi building lifts will be completed soon enough because it’s a real pain trying to conduct business in the upper floors of that place these days. The lift operators should also be happy, we know their salaries were paid over the period that the lift has been out of order but they really miss the tips they get from the hundreds of people using the lifts daily. Normal service is resuming soon.
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